


The World Has You in It

by ShovelsForFeet



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Grief, Post-Finale, Post-Spirit World Vacation, Sharing a Bed, Sleep Paralysis, and talking about feelings, basically all the issues Korra and Asami have in canon, heads up:, its all just pointless fluff, not comic book canon compliant, not very much grief tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 18:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19183585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShovelsForFeet/pseuds/ShovelsForFeet
Summary: Asami had told her to come to her if she ever needed anything, but Korra wasn’t sure if showing up at her estate at two in the morning was included in that promise.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've loved LoK for so long and I realized I've never written anything for it. So here's my tribute to the first media I ever really saw myself in. Enjoy!

Korra paced in the dew-covered grass off the side of the mansion, feeling foolish and a little obtrusive out in the still moonlight. She sighed and tilted her head up to stare at a set of sheer curtains fluttering out of an open window on the top floor.

Asami had told her to come to her if she ever needed anything, but Korra wasn’t sure if showing up at her estate at two in the morning was included in that promise.

“Maybe I shouldn’t,” Korra finally mumbled. She turned as if to leave but stopped, glancing over her shoulder at that window again, an ache in her chest. She didn’t want to go back to her bed on Air Temple Island, especially not after waking up unable to move anything but her eyes, a heavy and insidious weight pressing the air from her body. It had faded after a minute, but it left Korra more unnerved than she had felt in weeks. It was too much like what Zaheer did to her, and if she let her focus lull for even a moment she could feel prickling fear start to claw its way up the back of her neck.

She also missed her best friend.

It had been a few days since they last were able to talk. Republic City was still recovering from Kuvira’s attack and everyone wanted the Avatar for something or another— Asami too was needed by her company, already busy making plans to recreate housing amidst the rubble. At last they were able to squeeze in a quick lunch at Narook’s that began with bemoaning how much too short their Spirit World vacation was and ended with Korra telling one of her father’s corniest jokes and watching Asami snort into her noodles.

Asami….

Surely Asami wouldn’t mind her knocking on her bedroom door in the dead of night, right?

Before Korra could allow herself to make any rational decisions, she sprinted onto the pavement beside the mansion and jumped, launching herself up with a swirling tunnel of air and rolling through the open window. It wasn’t as stealthy as she would have liked it to be— her own loud swearing at whacking her shin against the window frame saw to that.

The room was dark, and Korra faintly realized she was in a bedroom when the room abruptly lit up in blinding blue. But she cried out and then only saw white.

…

“Korra!”

Korra groaned and cracked her eyes open. Her shoulder throbbed.

“Korra? Are you okay?”

Asami’s worried green eyes swam into her vision. One of Asami’s hands rested warm on her cheek. Korra blinked hard, bringing herself out of her daze. “Oh hey,” she said, a dopey smile dawning over her face.

Asami visibly relaxed, a sigh escaping her lips. “What are you doing here?”

Korra gingerly pushed herself up from the floor and felt just a hint of regret when Asami moved her hand away. “Looking for you,” she said. She shook her head briskly, rolled her protesting shoulders.

Asami raised her eyebrows and stiffened, immediately on the alert. “Why? What’s happened?” She grabbed her electric glove from off the floor and made to get up until Korra grasped her wrist.

“Nothing!” Korra assured her. “Nothing like that I mean. No bad guys.”

Asami frowned incredulously. “Then why are you sneaking in through my window? Korra, I thought you were someone breaking into my house.” There was an edge to her words, and her arms crossed over her chest.

The realization dropped heavy in Korra’s stomach. “Your—” Mom, she didn’t say. Killed in a break-in, she also didn’t say. “I wasn’t thinking,” she confessed, scratching the back of her neck. “Sorry, Asami.”

Asami only shook her head and helped Korra to stand up. She led her over to the bed, and they sat on the edge of it facing the patch of moonlight pouring in from her window.

Korra heard Asami take in a deep, exasperated breath beside her.

“I’m not mad,” Asami finally whispered, “Not enough to throw you out at least.” She turned her head and Korra was ensnared in her shadowed gaze. “I _am_ upset I just shocked you into unconsciousness though,” she said with a wry smile.

Korra smiled softly. “Don’t worry, I’m made of pretty tough stuff.”

Asami laughed. “I know you are.” She glanced back toward the window. “How did you know which room was mine?”

“Oh I didn’t.” Korra chuckled sheepishly. “This was the only open window. Thought you wouldn’t want me actually breaking anything.”

Asami hummed in agreement.

A silence stretched over them. The thin curtains waved in a mesmerizing fashion. Other than the gentle breeze the night was still and quiet, only the faint sounds of the city and a hooting cat owl in the distance. Korra closed her eyes and breathed in the crisp night air, a sort of fragile peace settling within her as she exhaled. She turned her head to Asami only to find she was already looking at her, a curious expression on her face.

Korra cocked her head. “What?”

Asami opened and closed her mouth before ultimately looking away, studying the moonlit window sill intently. “You still haven’t explained why you’re here.”

“Yes I did, I was… looking for you,” Korra said evasively. Suddenly her reasons for breaking into Asami’s mansion and frightening her seemed very small and silly. She plucked at the fur lining her waist.

“Well you’ve found me,” Asami said, gentle teasing in her voice, “What would you like to do with me?”

Korra jutted out her bottom lip, refusing to glance up. “I….” She paused too long.

“…Korra? Hey.”

Korra felt the bed shift and then Asami was there, her hand on her shoulder and her head ducked down to catch Korra’s gaze. “Is everything alright?”

“I woke up and I couldn’t move.” Korra’s voice was barely a whisper, but she couldn’t find any way to strengthen it. “I couldn’t breathe and—.”

Asami’s hand moved to blanket Korra’s own fidgety hands, and Korra stared down at her hand like it was something fascinating; traced her eyes over Asami’s manicured nails, the callus on the edge of her thumb, the hint of the thin bones on the back of her hands, the way her thumb rubbed circles into the fleshy area of Korra’s palm.

“There was this heavy thing hovering over me and it felt horrible, evil, it hated me!” Korra grimaced at the memory. “It went away, but I don’t know what it was. A dark spirit maybe?”

“Sleep paralysis,” Asami supplied.

Korra raised her head. “What?”

“Sleep paralysis. It’s not a dark spirit, just a human thing.” Asami offered her a comforting smile. “It happens.” Her hand squeezed around Korra’s.

“Does it happen to you?” Korra whispered with hesitant relief.

Asami nodded. “Sometimes. It’s scary,” she said, “but nothing to worry about.”

 “Oh,” Korra breathed, “Good.” She encased Asami’s hand in both of her own and leaned forward to rest her elbows against her knees, head hung to look at the flooring between her feet. “I was almost worried the poison came back,” she admitted with an empty chuckle, the relief mixing within her stomach in strange ways.

Asami set her free hand on Korra’s shoulder. “Do you want to stay over tonight?”

Korra laughed for real this time and glanced up at Asami with bright eyes.  “I was kind of hoping you’d say that.”

“Oh, I see,” Asami said, drawing her hands away; Korra pouted at the loss. “All this just to get into my bed,” she teased. She flipped her dark hair over one shoulder and looked over at her from under hooded eyes.

Korra flushed. “That’s not what I meant!”

Asami giggled at the crack in her voice, and Korra’s ears burned. “Come on.” She scooted back into the bed and patted the space beside her. “Take your shoes off.”

Korra complied, kicking her boots away, and crawled under the covers beside Asami. The bed was big enough that they could both easily sleep without ever even brushing each other, but Korra was starting to realize that might not be what she wanted. Before she could do anything about it, Asami got up and walked over to the window.

“Wouldn’t want anyone else jumping in,” Asami explained casually. She closed the window and drew a set of heavy curtains over the sheer ones, shrouding the room in darkness. The darkness seemed easier to breathe in somehow, and Korra used the cover to focus on cooling her still overheated face.

Asami slid back into the bed and shifted around until she was settled while Korra stared up at the dark ceiling, unmoving. There was a familiar tension surrounding her, one she remembered feeling during their trip to the Spirit World; they had both been exhausted, but once they laid down in their tent for the night Korra discovered that she couldn’t fall asleep, far too aware of Asami next to her.

Korra felt the bed shift as Asami turned onto her side; she did likewise a moment later but facing the other way. She nuzzled into the pillow— which, of course smelled like Asami— and held back an exasperated groan.

Korra wasn’t stupid, she knew exactly what this was…. She just didn’t know what to do about it. If she should do anything about it at all. The last time she had blurted out a confession to someone it had been uncomfortable for everyone (but mostly her). Hopefully she was better at handling these things; it had been a few years after all.

Asami sighed and shuffled around behind her, rolling over once again. She stilled for a moment and then moved around some more, tugging lightly on the sheets as she shifted.

Korra didn’t turn around to look, but she noted Asami’s restlessness with both concern and amusement. “You okay?” she asked. “Am I stealing the covers?”

And then Korra felt Asami press up against her back, one arm sliding over her waist under the blankets. Korra’s pulse soared into her throat. A surprised “Uhhh…” escaped her mouth before she could think to stop it.

“…Is this okay?” Asami sounded almost shy, unsure of herself.

Korra tried not to flinch at the breath hovering behind her ear and offered a shaky nod. “Yeah. It’s… perfect, thanks.” She was worried her response sounded a little too casual, the kind of response you give someone as you’re hurriedly trying to shove them out the door, but if it did Asami didn’t mention it.

After an agony of two minutes frozen still and stiff, Korra ironically found she could relax by leaning further back into Asami. Because Asami was warm and soft and… Asami. Because in moments of wistfulness Korra had daydreamed about this very situation while she laid cold and lonely and achy in her bed in the South Pole, a dozen halfheartedly read letters littering her floor.

Korra sighed and closed her eyes, put the memory out of her mind in favor of focusing on the present, and in the present, she felt… safe. Safer and more at peace than she had felt since their Spirit World vacation. Here in the darkness, there was a sense of privacy and safety— inexplicable comfort in the fact that only Asami knew where she was right now. Korra’s chest welled with gratefulness. She took Asami’s hand and drew it closer to her chest with a squeeze.

Asami squeezed back.

As Korra drifted to sleep, she wondered if maybe Asami felt something too.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asami: blatant flirting  
> Korra: god I wonder if she likes me


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Asami's POV this time. Enjoy!

Asami flicked her hair off her shoulder and cast a disarming smile, fully prepared to charm the sweating White Lotus guard into letting her wander Air Temple Island at such a late hour, when she startled at a hand grazing the small of her back. Korra sidled up next to her.

Korra didn’t look at her but grinned at the White Lotus guard. “Is this one causing trouble again?” she asked the guard.

Asami rolled her eyes and sighed. She felt Korra’s hand pat her back reassuringly and couldn’t help the grateful expression from passing over her face.

The poor White Lotus guard looked between the two of them with growing confusion. “Uhh, is she with you then?”

Korra tilted her head to catch Asami’s gaze. “Yeah, she’s with me, no worries.”

Damn that smirk of Korra’s. Asami narrowed her eyes playfully and tried not to swallow too audibly. Korra seemed to falter under her stare, quickly turning her head back to the guard.

The guard shifted from foot to foot. “Okay, uhh, have a good night Avatar Korra.” He gave a hasty bow and skittered past them to keep his post at the edge of the dock.

Asami turned to Korra fully, a pout on her lips. “I had it under control.”

“I know.” Korra shrugged casually, staring out at the dark water lapping at Asami’s motorboat. “I just didn’t feel like watching you flirt your way out of this when I could fix it easy in two seconds.”

“Oh? Why?” Asami raised an expectant eyebrow. “Jealous?”

“Ah pfff—” Korra gave a weird laugh and took a couple steps away, hands brushing the accusation out of the air. “No, I just wanted to save you the trouble.”

Asami hid a giggle behind one of her gloved hands. “Well, thank you then.”

“No problem.” Korra rubbed the back of her neck. “So uh, what brings you to Air Temple Island at this hour?”

“Couldn’t sleep. I was hoping you’d return the favor from last week.”

Korra’s eyebrows crinkled. “Last week? Oh!” Her confusion turned into something sly. “You mean you want into my bed.”

Asami felt her mouth fall open, but Korra continued before she could regather her words. “Come on. My bed’s not as fancy as yours but Tenzin says it’s actually better for your back.” She waved for Asami to follow her.

They crept into the women’s side of the bedrooms, careful to muffle their footsteps on the wood floor so as to not wake the handful of acolytes and airbenders living there. Korra slid open the door to her room and gestured Asami forward with an exaggerated bow.

“What a gentleman,” Asami whispered.

“I live to serve,” she replied, pulling the door shut behind them.

Asami couldn’t help but think of how true that was, and the thought didn’t sit well with her. She sighed and put her hands on her hips, briefly surveying the small and rather bare room. “This place never changes, does it?”

Korra stood next to her, nudged her shoulder lightly with her own. “Should I hang up some art for you? Isn’t my calendar of mover star Bolin enough?”

Asami laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sure he’d be very happy to see that.” She bumped Korra’s shoulder in retaliation and went to sit on the edge of the bed. There was a tiredness in her bones she wasn’t aware of until now; it expressed itself in another sigh, and she looked up to watch Korra only to realize the Avatar was already watching her.

Asami recognized the concern on the tip of Korra’s tongue and hurried to say something else. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

Korra frowned slightly but didn’t push. “I had a feeling I should be awake tonight. Guess that was you, huh?” A tiny, almost bashful smile played on her lips.

Asami returned the smile demurely. “I’m sorry to keep you up.”

“No, don’t be.” Korra wandered up to her window, the moonlight framing her profile in light and shadows. Her figure seemed to shrink for a moment. “It’s hard to shut my thoughts up at night… I think I’m waiting for the next bad guy to show up. The next disaster to happen.” She flashed Asami a tight smile. “So, I might’ve been awake in any case.”

The weariness in Korra’s voice wrapped itself around Asami’s chest and squeezed _hard_. Not for the first time, Asami wanted to reach out and smooth the worried creases from Korra’s face. Abruptly, a flash of the familiar and distant submerged her for an instant— her heart aching as she fixed Korra’s hair, the deadness in Korra’s eyes, the despair hanging still in the air of the room, three years ago.

“You can come to me.” The words spilled out of Asami’s mouth before she could think. “When you’re worried or stressed or scared. I won’t mind even if it’s every night. I’ll leave my window open for you.” She was surprised by how urgent her words sounded, by her own hands knotting themselves into Korra’s bedsheets.

The tension in Korra’s expression faded into something inexplicably soft. She left the window and embraced Asami in a tight hold. “Thank you,” she murmured.

“Anytime.” Anything, Asami wanted to say. She let her head rest limply against Korra’s warm shoulder and marveled at the fact that she could not remember ever feeling so right and content as she did in Korra’s arms. Then she tried to push that same thought away.

“What about you?”

“Hm?” Asami didn’t bother to raise her head or open her eyes. “What do you mean?”

"Why can’t _you_ sleep?” Korra asked, amused.

"Oh. Mmm…” It was getting harder to talk the more time she spent leaning against Korra. The warmth was intoxicating. And she was so drained. “…I was restless.”

“Why?”

That roused her. Asami stiffened and shifted off Korra’s shoulder.

Why.

She chewed on her bottom lip— considered lying but the truth bubbled out. “Old ghosts I guess,” she whispered, “Um.” Her throat felt tight suddenly, and she traced anxious circles into the back of Korra’s tank top, steadfastly avoiding the attentive gaze she felt boring into the side of her head. “I keep trying to tell my secretary to set appointments in my calendar to visit my father in jail,” she confessed, “…and then I remember.”

“Oh Asami….”

The honest pity and sympathy in Korra’s voice was too much, and Asami shoved her head into the crook of Korra’s neck as if hiding. Leave it to Korra to get this out of her, she mused wryly. Asami hadn’t intended to bring up her father at all; in fact, the reason she found herself sneaking onto the island in the dead of night was to avoid thinking about him specifically.

“I’m afraid of losing more people,” Asami admitted, then froze. What had possessed her to say that? Had the poor sleep and long hours finally worn away the filter between her thoughts and mouth? She tried to burrow herself further into Korra, shielding her uncomfortably bare soul.

Korra moved her chin to rest on top of Asami’s head, and when she spoke again Asami could feel the words as well as hear them: “I’ll do everything in my power to keep you from losing more people.”

Asami laughed hollowly. “I think that’s part of the problem.”

Korra pulled back, a frown painting her features. “What do you mean?”

“You’re one of the people I don’t want to lose.” She watched emotions she couldn’t decipher flicker across Korra’s face like faint candlelight. “And you’re always the one in the most danger.”

“But—” Korra’s expression finally settled on nearly incredulous, and she gave a short puff of laughter. “I’m fine. I’m fine, Asami. I’m tough, remember?” She frowned in concern. “…Why are you looking at me like that?”

Asami tried to wipe the disbelieving grimace from her face.

“You’re not going to lose me,” Korra insisted, “You’re not.”

Asami clenched her teeth together harder, as if that would halt the words ringing through her mind. It felt like a coin had flipped in her mind— on one side, the angry hurt of three years, and on the other, the opposing guilt for having such selfish thoughts— and it was still spinning in the air, undecided and unspoken.

Korra reached forward and grasped Asami’s arms at the elbows, gently bowing into her space. Her eyes were earnest, eager to cast Asami’s fears away. And most likely her own fears as well, Asami realized guiltily.

“You’re not going to lose me, I promise.”

The coin landed.

“I lost you for three years.” It was only when Korra flinched and jerked her hands away that Asami even processed the words she had bitten out. “It’s not your fault,” she added immediately, “But I lost you for three years and you can’t—” The words were pouring out now, sharp and fragile. “You can’t promise something like that because you’ll always put the world before yourself.”

“Of course,” Korra snapped, and Asami was relieved at her anger; she could handle an angry Korra any day, but an ashamed Korra would be a devastation. “I have to. I’m the Avatar. It’s my _job_.”

A pause.

“I want to.”

Asami chuckled grimly, rubbing her face with both hands. The irony of it all, she realized, was that part of what made her so fond of Korra was the very same reason her chest ached. “I know,” she conceded eventually. She reached out to brush a few strands of Korra’s hair out of her face and was pleased when the Avatar’s eyes automatically fluttered closed for the briefest of moments. “I know.”

“You understand, right?” The sternness in Korra’s voice had given way to something entreating, but her eyes still carried a quiet intensity.

“…I do.” Hoping to receive a repeat response, Asami stroked Korra’s hair again, grazing against her temple. This time Korra let her eyes stay closed, a heavy sigh billowing out her nose.

“I’ll do my best to stay safe but keeping balance will always come first,” she murmured, “I think it would be the same even if I wasn’t the Avatar.”

Asami chuckled wistfully. “That’s part of why I lo—”

Korra’s eyes flashed open.

The air left Asami’s lungs like a deflating tire, but it wasn’t enough to take back the barest hint of that L. And even if it was, the softness in her tone had betrayed her too. Her heart lurched unsteady in her throat.

It just wasn’t something anyone should do— she couldn’t just tell her best friend she was in love with her when they weren’t even dating. Worse, that she had been in love with her for years. Spirits.

Asami didn’t know what to say to cover it up. Didn’t know which would be more incriminating, to avoid Korra’s gaze or seek it out like nothing had happened. She noticed her hand was still in Korra’s hair and brought it away, careful to mask her face in neutrality. The fact that Korra had yet to say anything had her stomach twisting in knots.

“Asami?” Korra sounded oddly wary, and it made Asami shrivel up internally.

“Sorry, the late night does something to my head, I’ve been working too much, I don’t know what I’m saying half the time.” Asami gave what she hoped was a convincing laugh. She still couldn’t bring herself to look her in the face.

Korra offered only a chuckle. “…Okay. Do you want to lay down now?”

Asami nodded gratefully. She stood to allow Korra to pull back the covers and climb in bed. “It’s a little smaller than yours so I hope you’re okay with cuddling,” Korra said, opening her arms.

“I— I don’t mind.” Asami joined her, settling her head against Korra’s chest. She was already flushed from the embarrassment and having the side of her face pressed against the bare skin revealed by Korra’s tank top only worsened it. Damn everything.

Korra tugged the blankets up around Asami’s shoulders and then rested an arm over Asami’s back; this did not help Asami calm down in the slightest, and she struggled to take in a deep breath without it being noticeable.

Korra took in a deep breath of her own and it made Asami realize that she could hear the Avatar’s heart booming in her ear. “Am I crushing you?” she asked.

Korra scoffed. “No, don’t worry.”

They fell silent once more. Asami tried to listen to the peaceful stillness of the island, the barely-there sound of the waves and the noisy night bugs, but all she could focus on was how fast Korra’s heart was drumming.

“Hey… uh.” Korra cleared her throat.

“Yes?”

“You know I care about you, right?”

Asami almost laughed at how cute Korra sounded, at how she sounded just as flustered as she was. “Yes, I know.”

“No, I mean….” Korra made a frustrated noise and trailed off.

Asami squeezed her eyes shut tight for a moment, forcing all the visible frightened hope out of her expression. Then she propped herself up onto an elbow to watch Korra. Korra who was frowning up at the ceiling like it had wronged her.

“Talk to me.” Asami internally winced— the hopefulness had leaked into her voice instead of her eyes.

Korra shook her head and groaned, clapping a hand over her eyes. “I don’t know what I’m saying,” she said, mirroring Asami’s earlier excuse.

Asami scooted up a bit more so that she hovered over Korra’s face, her dark hair curtaining the two of them on one side. “Korra,” she called quietly. Her mouth felt dry.

Korra removed her hand and looked up expectantly at Asami. Asami only stared back. When it became apparent she wasn’t planning on saying anything else, Korra pushed herself up a few inches and stopped. Already they were too close.

Too close and Asami couldn’t move, didn’t want to move. Felt Korra’s shortened breath against her own lips. Wondered if her own eyes looked as searching and hesitant and bewildered as Korra’s blue ones did. Asami swallowed.

Please, please, please, say it, something, anything, Asami thought. Begged. Say it because she couldn’t, because she couldn’t burden Korra with her feelings, not when the Avatar was juggling so many other important issues. Please.

Korra inched forward a miniscule amount but didn’t do anything else.

Unbidden, Asami’s eyes flickered down to her lips. When she glanced back up, she found Korra doing the same, and suddenly she could hear her own pulse roaring in her ears. She closed her eyes and nudged Korra’s nose with her own, foreheads pressed together.

_Please, please, please say it. Anything._

"Asami…,” Korra uttered, barely a whisper. Desperate and reverent. And it was enough. Enough of a confession for Asami to finally press their lips together.

And Korra kissed back, sweetly hesitant.

When they parted, Korra beamed a smile brighter than the sun and Asami looked on in wonder. “So,” Korra started, playful and yet still shy, “I know this is a little random, but do you… maybe wanna get dinner with me sometime?”

“Yeah,” Asami breathed, “Yeah, I think I can pencil you in.”

“Great!” Korra laughed and Asami thought it was the best thing she had ever heard. So, she gently pushed Korra down flat and leaned in to kiss her again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you know hard this was to write confident bi!Asami when I have been panic gay! my whole life? So hard....


	3. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A teeny tiny ending.

Korra smiled up at the stars, grateful for clear skies as she twirled her glider in her hands. She flipped the glider’s wings out and was about to take off when—

“Ah, more nightly Avatar duties, huh?”

 Korra spun around, childishly hiding the glider behind her back before she realized what she was doing. She squinted into the dark and made out a familiar silhouette standing under one of the bigger trees in the gardens. “Oh, hi Kya…”

“You’ve been having a lot of those Avatar duties lately,” Kya continued ruthlessly. She walked out from under the tree’s shadow and up the deck stairs to join Korra, mirth written all over her features.

“Yeah…” Korra scratched the back of her neck. “I guess so?” She had half a mind to turn this conversation back on Kya; what was she doing haunting the Air Temple gardens so late in the evening?

Kya smirked and leaned against a column with her arms crossed over her chest. “So, who’s the lucky fella? Or girl,” she added, eyes crinkling at the corners.

Korra flushed. “Have I really been that obvious?”

“Let’s just say that Tenzin is halfway convinced you’re sneaking out to an illegal fighting ring every night.”

“It’s not every night,” Korra mumbled. She started suddenly, hands waving. “Not that I’m in a fighting ring or anything! I’m just going out to see Asami.” She stiffened at her accidental confession.

“Asami?” Kya pondered this for a moment. “Aw that’s cute,” she decided, “The Avatar dating the genius of Future Industries.”

Korra deflated in relief. “Thanks, but I’m not sure whether I was supposed to let that slip or not yet,” she admitted.

Kya made a self-silencing motion. “Your secret is safe with me. Now don’t you have somewhere to be?” She shooed the Avatar away.

Korra beamed at the dismissal, flipping her glider out. “Thanks Kya!” Before Kya could change her mind (or worse, Tenzin pop out of nowhere to discuss his theory), the Avatar took off into the crisp night air.

After a few minutes in the sky, she was reminded yet again that the issue with glider travel was not the speed or heights or weather but the tiny bugs that met their doom smack against her forehead. Korra made a note to ask Asami about borrowing a pair of her aviator goggles as she descended on the said CEO’s estate.

Most of the lights were off except for one brightly lit window on the top floor. The very same window was wide open, curtains straying out. Korra maneuvered nearer to it, closed her glider, and fell inside, feet first. She’d gotten better at her entrances.

Asami, to her credit, didn’t so much as blink at her arrival. Instead she pushed a cup of tea into her hands and a teasing, “You’re late.”

“Oh thanks,” Korra said, taking a sip. “Kya caught me. Apparently, Tenzin thinks I’ve joined a fighting ring.”

Asami raised her eyebrows in thought. “Well, we could spar if you really want to prove him right. I’d have to change though.” She gestured to her much too see-through magenta nightgown.

Korra coughed and drew her eyes away. “Nah, I’m good.” She sipped at her tea some more to avoid Asami’s gaze— She just _knew_ Asami was wearing the smuggest smirk at having so easily flustered the Avatar. “Hey um.” Korra brought up the first nagging thing on her mind. “I let it slip to Kya that I was seeing you.”

Asami nodded for her to continue. Still with that cocky air to her.

Korra paused, realizing she was about to make this fun moment into something serious. “Is this…” She gestured between the two of them, both still hovering near the bed. “…a secret?”

“Oh.” Asami sighed, brows furrowed as she stared into her own teacup. “I don’t want it to be,” she said, “Do you?” She glanced up at Korra with such a careful vulnerability that Korra’s heart skipped at the same time a breath of relief left her.

“No, not really.” She shook her head. “They’re gonna talk though. The press. They’re gonna dig things up.” She could see it now: Avatar has affair with Asami Sato, daughter of late Equalist supporter, Hiroshi Sato.

Asami wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Let them. It’ll be nothing they haven’t said about us before. We’ll just be in the same article this time.” There was a bitter strength in Asami’s words that emboldened Korra and she nodded.

“…Mako’s gonna flip.” Korra led the conversation into easier waters.

Asami barked a laugh. “I think he already suspects. I got a little too handsy with you the last time we all went out.”

Korra shared a glittering smile with her at the memory of it. “Yeah, you think?”

“Shush.” Asami scoffed good-naturedly and nudged Korra in the side. She sat down on the bed and took a contemplative sip of tea. “We need to tell Bolin and Mako before the press gets there first though. Before the end of next week.”

“Wait, wait.” Korra laughed. “How do you know when the press will find out? Just how talented are you, Sato?”

“Oh!” Asami pressed a hand to her own forehead. “I guess I forgot to ask you. Uh, I have a big work gala in a couple weeks, I was hoping you’d be my plus one?”

Korra grinned but didn’t immediately answer. Instead she took Asami’s teacup from her hands and placed it on the dresser with her own, Asami looking on quizzically. Korra spun abruptly and straddled her lap, grinning even wider at the engineer’s startled stutter. “Sorry.” She sounded anything but sorry, resting her arms over Asami’s silk-covered shoulders. “I just really want to kiss you.”

Asami appraised her quietly for a moment, the corner of her lips rising into a crooked smile while the blush betrayed her true feelings. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.” She set her hands against Korra’s hips.

“Good.” Korra laid a chaste peck on her lips and then moved down to kiss where her jawline met her throat; she felt Asami tilt her head for her even as she laughed in surprise at Korra’s antics.

“This kind of kiss, huh?” Asami quipped, already breathless.

“Mmhm.” Beneath the press of her lips she could feel Asami’s throat bob with a dry swallow.

“…Is that a yes then? The gala?”

Korra found herself giggling at how distracted Asami sounded. “It’s a yes. I’ll be your date, don’t worry.” She pulled back, intending on teasing Asami on her responsiveness, but something in Asami’s face had her mind stalling and her chest warm with fondness.

Asami raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“It sounds perfect,” Korra murmured, quoting herself. She knew Asami had understood when her eyes softened, arms encircling her and squeezing tight.

Korra rested her cheek on the top of Asami’s head, and she could taste the “I love you” on her tongue but held it back; they had time.

They had all the time in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s some things unresolved but I’m gonna leave it because it feels more realistic in a way? Like Asami’s always gonna worry over Korra getting hurt doing her Avatar duties, Korra’s always gonna worry over the next big bad guy disaster, Asami's still grieving, Korra’s still mentally dealing with the aftermath of the poison. It’s a lot.
> 
> But I think they’re the kind of people to find peace in each other at the end of the day and I hope that came through in this tiny fluff fic.


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